QB Battle: Jeremy Hecklinski appears to have passed Hank Brown on the Depth Chart. QB was NOT a Transfer Portal Priority per KF on Dec 18
- Thread starter Franisdaman
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I think this is a completely fair opinion. But ...
1. Could they have found a better QB AND land him with a reasonable amount of NIL and still pay everyone else?
2. It means the Hawks would be starting over with a QB that doesn't know the system ,,, again. MG wasn't very good in the first half of the season and then played very well the second half. Was that rust recovering from the injury? Or was it lack of comfort with the offense? A little of both? I don't know.
I guess we'll find out soon if having a command of the offense is a true difference maker. It would be nice to be able to use the entire offense against ISU for once.
I was feeling good after the practice last Saturday. Now it sounds like neither guy is any good.
I predict Bessinger will start for 4 years starting next year.
I predict Bessinger will start for 4 years starting next year.
All-time, huh? Guess you weren’t around for the Commings and Lauterbur years, including FXL’s magical 0-11 season.
But I’m sure you’ll have an answer for your uninformed statement.
Yes, I can read.
No, you are not being mischaracterized.
You said “all time high”. With no qualifications. And you are wrong. It would be nice if you actually admitted that for once. Or at least that you were exaggerating.
No, I was not old enough to remember Commings. So I could have clarified that.
But with the advancement of TV coverage, message boards, and social media, all serving as multipliers, I have a hard time believing the negativity to have been as intense and as wide spread back then. Not to mention more widely available sports betting and fantasy sports having increased the popularity of the sport.
And I could be wrong, but my guess would be there was a lot of apathy rather than negativity, similar to Lickliter.
Regardless, the fact that community negativity was the most toxic that's been seen in the KF era, during the last season of what was KF's winningest 7 year stretch at Iowa, makes the same point
We will be 3-0 with either guy at the helm even if 50-50 snaps but we'd better have our crap together before going to the Big House.
I cant wait to see Hank Brown soil his pants in the big house if He is the starter , Should be on par with Deacon Hill in the B1G CG . He has yet in front of a real crowd to show He is better than a HS QB , Heck is more fearless , That said Iowa only has 1 QB on the roster with a true NFL arm and size and for some reason the Hawkeyes did not throw enough cash or want to hurt feelings by bringing Him in for Spring ball and fast tracking Him .
Jeebuz, hoping for an Iowa player to fail? That's not right thinking for a fan. There are doctors who can help you.
A win against ISU is no given if the Hawks QB situation is as problematic as it sounds.
Iowa is always trying to figure out their offense early in the season which is why the ISU game is never a sure thing.
Iowa is always trying to figure out their offense early in the season which is why the ISU game is never a sure thing.
This is spot on. Don't expect Iowa to be getting portal qb's that will play right away.
They're too expensive.
And the offense is too complicated. Mark was a 4.0 engineering student, if I'm not mistaken. And he had no clue what he was looking at for much of the season.
So it would have to be someone from the same system. And not a lot of schools are running it
At this point, the offense performing or not performing is on Lester. These are the QBs he brought in. If they suck, then maybe his evaluations suck too
As usual the overreactions are ridiculous. We have info on a couple practices. There will be good days and bad days.
I don’t think his evaluation sucks. I think, coming off the Brian years, our choices were very limited.
Only if you have the ability to pass the ball.
Iowa is generally very good at running the ball and very, very poor at passing. It shouldn't make sense, but it has for Iowa.
Then maybe the offense shouldn't be so complicated that it takes so long for a QB to learn. The more complicated the offense the greater the chances of mistakes. Given Kirk's aversion to mistakes, it is puzzling as to why he allows the offense to be so difficult to grasp.
As for fan negativity from an earlier post....it was directed towards the offense and rightly so. Yes, the Hawks won a lot of games. They also lost multiple games directly due to the inept offense. You seem to forget that the Iowa offense was a national joke. It was embarrassing. Maybe you don't care, but most fans are not too happy when their team (the offensive in this case) is ridiculed, laughed at, and made fun of. This has been explained to you multiple times.
But I'm thru discussing this. We get it....Iowa fans are bad.
Also, fan "negativity" affects every team, good and bad, and always has. Welcome to organized sports.
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The problem is, they got Heck and Brown from the portal. What makes you think they would do any better with another shot at it? I'll reserve judgment until the bullets start flying in a real game, but as stated above, it is disappointing to think we may once again be going through the season with subpar QB play.
I'm waiting for the 2 deeps to formulate my opinion and then the game against NIU.
It's a two-horse race at this point and Iowa may not name a "number 1" until the UNI game.
Last Saturday at kids scrimmage,heck ripped it up and immediately fans worried that our defense is vulnerable.
In the BTN practice, defense ruled(as usual) and now fans are worried about the offense.
Can't win in pre-season workouts.
The conclusion of BTN crew is this: KF and phil will find a way to win games as usual and a 14th straight winning season is likely.
As they say; 1st world problem....unlike 3rd world issues like huskers and badgers.
In the BTN practice, defense ruled(as usual) and now fans are worried about the offense.
Can't win in pre-season workouts.
The conclusion of BTN crew is this: KF and phil will find a way to win games as usual and a 14th straight winning season is likely.
As they say; 1st world problem....unlike 3rd world issues like huskers and badgers.
Just remember these guys are going against a top 10 defense every day in practice.
Didn't sound that way according to Lester at the B1G visit. He said all analytics were almost identical, and there's a good chance they'll both play Sept. 5th.
Lester alluded to that. They're both going to play on the 5th, I'm betting.
Lester brought that up also. He's thrilled that this is his first year at Iowa where he has QB's in the room that he worked with the previous year. He said they are WAY ahead installing his offense. Maybe we should see how it goes?
nor do I and Ferentz again displays his abilty to ****** the QB position IMO>
This.
Eyes of douche can deny it all he wants, but the damage done under Brian took some time to repair. The "Iowa's offense" jokes didn't go away overnight. (and still haven't for some) For several years young QBs heard "Why would you go to Iowa? Their offense is terrible and they won't throw the ball" everywhere they turned.
Lester's hand can be seen on the offense now so we're getting better QBs. But without the perfect portal transfer it takes time. Gronowski was about as good a fit as we could hope for. If Bessinger is the real deal I hope they're willing to give him a fair look regardless of his age.
Not questioning the staff, but have often wished the offense could be less complicated, myself.
I think attempting to be too multiple has probably cost Iowa at least a game since TL has been here. But at the same time, he was trying to get as much of the offense installed as possible.
It is what it is. Typical growing pains with coaching change. And expected, as I predicted a slight drop in wins the first couple years. Hopefully everything is integrated now to the point where the system is able to be taken advantage of and be a practical fit. Developing qb's internally will probably have to be part of fitting it.
- To say fan negativity was only directed at the offense is a complete cop-out. For one, many fans did, in fact, direct the negativity at KF or the program. But also, no matter who the negativity was directed at, it was received as a team. The boos, for example, didn't come with disclaimers. And even if they did, the team is a brotherhood. A shot at one's brother is too be taken personally. A shot at one, is a shot at the team. You and I went over that distinction a couple of years ago.
And no, the negativity toward the offense was not just. As mentioned, it can never be distinguished to be received that way. And that level of fan negativity should never exist. The role of the fan is to support. But to entertain a world in which level of fan support/complaint is "justly" reflective of performance, it's still only team performance that matters. And in '23, for example, the Iowa team performed at a very high level.
- I don't think anyone on that team felt one bit of embarrassment. Again, anyone who gives a hard time to a winning team (let alone a long winning program) has the joke placed squarely on them. That's what's embarrassing, is to make fun of a winning team.
- I've never said Iowa fans are bad. A portion of them are, just like everywhere else. Overall, Iowa has great fans. But many of them behaved very poorly during that time, and they can do better.
- And you also managed to end with another cop-out. Whether fan negativity already exists everywhere, or not, it doesn't have to exist here, and it doesn't have to exist now. Fans still have the choice to behave in a supportive manner.
And since you mentioned it, a fishbowl community, like Hawkeye athletics, can present a whole other dynamic, when it comes to fan negativity
Unfortunately, for the most part, people are reacting to the most mostly piss poor quarterback play we’ve been exposed to since Covid. It’s difficult giving Iowa the benefit of the doubt here.
A lot has changed since then. If the QB play is terrible during the season, then sure, but as of now we really know nothing. A few days ago everybody was ready to anoint Heck based on Kids’ Day and now we’re back to the sky is falling
I don’t agree with all of this. It doesn’t mean I’m right and you’re wrong, or that you’re right and I’m wrong. Simply a difference of opinion.
Completely overplayed narrative. In fact, laughable, like most of them.
Passing numbers have been terrible under TL. And passing attempts in his first two years have been far less than the previous OC. And admist that 2nd year, Iowa was able to land, perhaps, it's highest rated qb in decades.
Why? Because recruits actually research their decisions beyond national narratives.
Just like Cade did. The offense only started becoming a national joke in '22. Yet after that season, Iowa was able to land Cade, who was a good recruit, at the time.
And recruits in the following years have all had the knowledge that Iowa has a new OC. Believe me, these kids are informed so far beyond national narratives.
If a recruit ended up not researching Iowa because they got negative recruited, it likely wasn't a fit for Iowa anyway. Iowa wants kids that want to win and that want to be there.
I guess it could be said that maybe recruiting during the '23 season was a bit sluggish. But we'll never know. And even if true, Iowa ended up landing Sullivan. Not as highly thought of a recruit as Cade, but ended up the boy of many fans. And he also wasn't necessarily brought in as the starter.
Then after '24, Iowa was so unattractive that they landed Grono, the all-time winningest qb in D1.
There have been guys good enough to start on the field. The room is full and has upside.
This might be one of the most empty Iowa football narratives out there.
- As for Bessinger right now, for all involved, the staff most "fairly" has him deep on the depth chart
I found it interesting in an interview that Lester said "We're not really a portal team" in discussing the QB situation. You always end up with a flawed QB taking them from the portal.
I agree with you that Lester will make the most of what he has to work with. I think he wants to develop QBs he recruits from the high school ranks. This bodes well for our future on offense as long as we have Lester on the scene.
Lester still reports to KFz. I think he has more control over the O than previous OCs perhaps...but it's never total under KFz. KFz fears risk, or rather "perceived" risk.
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